'TVParty.com,
a TV history website... its links to Amazon.com help sell TV DVDs."- Boston Globe

"All
the coolest, strangest, most absurd shows and peculiar tube trends ever
-- they're all part of the wallow that is TVparty!"- Diane Werts, Newsday

'A
twisted walk
down memory lane!'- Sharon Edry, TV Guide

'Top
Five Sites! Interviews and articles... are must reads.' - London Sunday Times

'It's
too good to be true. Put together by Billy Ingram, TVparty.com has gossip,
scandal, sex, singing, dancing, action, drama and celebrities with their
'original parts'' - LA Times

'An ingenious tribute that elevates the TV past to artlike proportions.
Site guru Billy Ingram has compiled features both over-the-top and museum
worthy, blissful nostalgia for those born in the '40s or the '80s. A+ - Entertainment Weekly

For many
fans season two was far superior to year one - there are more episodes
and many classic stories by Rod Serling like 'The Diary' with Patty Duke
as a viscous gossip columnist with a date book that predicts her future
and Orson Welles as the narrator of Serling's adaptation of 'Silent Snow,
Secret Snow.'

From the
product description: Prepare for the unexpected as Season Two of Night
Gallery comes to DVD! This 5-disc DVD set contains 61 stories, created
and hosted by the master of mystery: The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling.
With guest performances by Hollywood legends that reads like a roster
of Who’s Who in Hollywood, you’ll be sure to see sights to
amaze! Featuring audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and
a gallery presentation of the paintings from the series, this collector’s
set is the classic anthology of timeless, spine-tingling entertainment
you don’t dare to miss!

The picture
and sound quality are quite fine and many TV favorites turn up in both
chilling and humorous storylines - 'Class of '99' with Vincent Price,
H.P. Lovecraft's 'Cool Air' with Barbara Rush, John Carradine in Richard
Matheson's 'Big Surprise' are just a few of the best.

In addition
to the 22 hour long episodes, there are some very informative podcast
commentaries by Night Gallery historians Scott Skelton &
Jim Benson and 3 commentaries by director Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy,
Pan's Labyrinth).

Night
Gallery can be a frustrating experience because of all the poorly
executed episodes and silly vignettes but when it works it's a very effective
horror anthology.

SUPER
CIRCUSKevin
Butler points out an anniversary - Friday, January 16, 2009 marked
the 60th anniversary of the debut of kiddie TV's very first circus show,
Super Circus.

Originally,
the concept was created for radio as a kids game show set against the
backdrop of a traveling circus. Claude Kirchner (who at that time was
serving as the announcer of a women's panel discussion program on the
ABC TV network called Ladies Be Seated) was hired to MC the program
and Mary Hartline (who had just finished appearing on a teen radio music
program Teen Town) was hired as the program's pretty young assistant.

The
series was going to be sponsored by Super Bubble Gum but the sponsor went
out of business and the radio series was dropped. To salvage the format
the producer Ed Skotch revamped the show as a kid's circus TV series.
Taking on former stage and radio character actor Clifford Sobrier as the
lead clown "Cliffy," veteran circus buffoon Nick Francis as
"Nicky" The sad faced tramp clown and Bardy Patton as a role
model for the kids as "Scampy The Boy Clown" while retaining
the services of Ms. Hartline as the show's bandleader and sex symbol.
Claude Kirchner remained as the ringmaster/announcer.

Super
Circus the TV series debuted on ABC on Sunday evening January 16,
1949. The show featured performances by visiting circus acts, well known
performers, games played by kids in the studio audience for prizes, and
comedy skits performed by the program's resident clowns. There was also
music performed by Ms. Hartline and the band.

Super
Circus became a hit with the family and was broadcast from a small
studio that was very small (although it looked big on camera) on WBKB
channel 7 In Chicago. Bardy Patton outgrew the role of "Scampy"
and was replaced in the part by Sandy Dobritch.

The
series remained a hit until a week before Christmas, 1955 when the heads
of ABC TV and the producers decided to replace the Chicago cast and move
the program to WABC TV 7 in NYC. The series was broadcast beginning Sunday
December 25, 1955 from the WABC studios with comic character actor, singer
and musician Jerry Colonna serving as the new ringmaster, Will B. Able
and Jerry Koslowski as the resident clowns, and Ms. Sandy Wirth as the
new Queen of the Super Circus Band.

The
NYC edition of the series was not as successful as the original format
and went off the air in June, 1956. Ms. Hartline went on to hosted her
own kid's shows in Chicago Princess Mary's Castle with magician
Don Alan and The Mary Hartline Show.

Nicky
Francis moved to Florida in 1960 to host his last kid's TV show, The
Nicky The Clown Show, prior to that he briefly starred in the Chicago
version of Time For Fun in the early 1950's. Claude Kirchner
also moved to NYC where he began a long stint hosting numerous cartoon
shows and The Bozo Show / Circus Circus Circus for WOR TV 9 in
NYC and he briefly starred in NBC's Marx Magic Midway Saturday
mornings during the late 1950's and into the 1960's.

Producer
Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) returns to network television
with another science fictiony drama that is one of the worst written,
poorly acted series premieres I've seen in a long time.

This
Dollhouse is a buzzing hive of wickedly attractive young ladies like Eliza
Dushku who have their minds wiped clean and reprogrammed by violent shock
treatments in order to be whoever their masters decide they need to be
that day.

These
perky puppet chicks can be instantly imprinted with abilities it takes
a person a lifetime to learn, all the while everything they experience
is monitored by the stereotypically snarky nerds back at the office. (Fran
Kranz as the dolls' tech support guy doesn't just play an annoying character
type he is annoying.)

It's
the Bionic Woman with a juiced up mind and fewer parts. Need
an expert hostage negotiator or crack crossbow marksman and you need it
overnight? Put in your purchase order and a no nonsense superdoll is on
the way.

This
all too convenient contrivance may hold a rank appeal to henpecked husbands
at home watching FOX on Friday nights or dateless dorks who can't get
within striking distance of a beautiful, capable woman but there's nothing
much to get excited about otherwise.

Every
plot point is hammered home with blunt repetitions, as if the potential
audience too thick to get what little is going on here. This is cookie
cutter not cutting edge. Good thing the entire enterprise is presided
over by a woman (Olivia Williams as Adelle DeWitt) or we might get the
idea that this is some misguided, misogynistic wet dream.

Tim
Lones responds to a previous post: "Though I never lived in Philadelphia,
nor have I ever seen Gene London, it's good that he is taking the initiative
to get some of his programs out on DVD. I was at the Ghoulardifest, a
Cleveland festival honoring the local horror host tradition in Cleveland,
especially Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson) and Hoolihan/Big Chuck/Lil John
in October 2008. A local radio DJ/TV historian (he is writing a Cleveland
TV History book due out this year) found a classic TV special from KYW-
TV 3 in Cleveland from Linn Sheldon (Barnaby) called Barnaby Goes
to Plymouth. Originally aired in 1962 and repeated in 1963, this was
shown at the Ghoulardifest and received a warm response. The Sheldon Family
would not let this DJ announce the special beforehand and he could only
show it once. It seems to me something like this would sell if marketed
right."

See
the cool 'Wait I Know This' player on the left side of this page? It's
a classic TV Podcast you're sure to enjoy. In fact, select the Paul Peterson
episode and listen to some of the horror stories about TV kid stars that
Eric Chilton and his co-hosts get from the Donna Reed Show star. Like
Judy Garland once said, "There's no business like show business -
thank God!"

All
of these obits lately - Kevin Butler writes: Mrs. Ruth Clokey, the
ex-wife of stop motion animator and Gumby creator Art Clokey, is dead.
Ruth Parklander Clokey died at her son Joe Clokey's home in Albuquerque,
New Mexico on Wednesday, she was 85 years old and lost a long bout with
Alzheimer's disease.

Born
in 1923, she attended Augustine College in Rock Island, Il. where she
trained for a career as a high school teacher. In 1944 she applied for
a teacher's position at a high school in Rock Island but eventually left
to became a field director for The Augustana Lutheran Church Board's New
England-New York Conference. where she would distribute educational materials
to the populace.

Following
her mission for The Augustana Lutheran Church Board she enrolled into
the Hartford Ct. seminary to further her training in religious education.

A
chance meeting with Mr. Art Clokey, who was also studying at the seminary,
sidetracked her plans. The pair were married in 1948 and left the seminary
to move to Hollywood and produce religious films. For a time they taught
film techniques at USC under the supervision of filmmaker Slavko Vorkapich.
Years later Art Clokey created and produced the film Gumbasia
which later evolved into the Gumby puppet films and the rest is history.

Mrs.
Clokey worked with her husband as a story editor on Gumby
and later on Davey & Goliath until they were divorced in
1966. Mrs. Clokey also produced an extra series of Davey & Goliath
films for Premavision in 1969. She continued to work on the series without
her ex-husband into the mid-1970's, her last D&G film was Davey
& Goliath To The Rescue released in 1975. She served as executive
director.

Ms.
Clokey retired from film production to return to her studies at Augustana
College where she became a literature professor, she taught at the college
until her health began to fail; she moved to Albuquerque where her son
Joe Clokey could tend to her needs.

WE'RE
LOSING SO MANY
Two television greats have passed on. Kevin Butler tells us: Character
actor Ricardo Montalban, best remembered for his role of the mysterious
owner and wish giver of Aaron Spelling's Fantasy Island died
Wednesday at his Los Angles home.

Mr.
Montalban died at the age of 88 and had been in failing health for years.
He began his acting career at MGM in 1946 in roles limited to playing
charming but crafty villains; he continued to play these roles in films
for Universal and other studios and for Walt Disney for his 1957 period
adventure series Zorro
with Guy Williams, Henry Calvin, Gene Sheldon and Annette Funicello.

He
also played Kahn on Gene Roddenberry's sci-fi classic Star
Trek and years later reprised the role in the second Star Trek feature
film The Wrath Of Kahn.

His
best remembered role was that of the mysterious owner and operator of
a strange South Seas isle where people paid to have their dreams fulfilled
- but at a price. Fantasy
Island was the creation of TV producer and scriptwriter the late Aaron
Spelling who developed this moralistic anthology series.

Working
with dimutive actor Hervey Villachez (and later British character actor
Christopher Hewett) Montalban would greet the many famous guests - Sonny
Bono, Bob Denver, Phil Silvers, Robert Goulet, John Schuck, Linda Blair,
Artie Johnson, to name a few - as they arrived to have their wishes fulfilled.

Ricardo
Montalban continued to work after the series ended but an old back injury
curtailed his acting efforts to be with his family. One of Mr. Montalban's
last TV appearances was in the three part tribute to MGM's 75th anniversary,
MGM:
When The Lion Roared hosted by Patrick Stewart and featuring clips
from old MGM movies and television shows, rare behind the scenes footage,
newsreels and interviews.

Mr.
Montalban was also interviewed for A&E's Biography show. A theater
bears his name is in his neighborhood.

WHAT
A GREAT IDEAJohn
Baker from the Gene London Yahoo News Group writes: "Gene wanted
me to email you and ask if you could post a message on the site to everyone
out in Cyber TV land. Gene is adding items to his personal archive and
wanted everyone to know about this new endeavour. He's asking that anyone
with photo's, home movies or any memorabilia related to his
career contact him through the site or at CartoonCorner@aol.com.
He's absolutely sure something mutually agreeable can be worked out with
anyone willing to contribute. Have you seen our pictures and video clips
on the site in the files and photo's section? If you care to here's
the group address enjoy!! Also Gene is in the
process of transferring select episodes of the show to DVD, more to come!"

I
predict a big seller if they release those classic local kid shows on
DVD - The Magic Garden is selling like crazy and I'm led to believe
by the volume of mail we get that Philly's Gene London is even more popular!

STUFF
Bob Huggins writes: "Looks like the $10.99 pre-order price for
Room 222 is dead. The
price is now $31.49. Hopefully, any of your readers who pre-ordered
at the $10.99 price will have that price honored by Amazon."

I'm still looking forward to that one, I haven't seen Room 222
since I was a kid although I know it was running on cable in the 1980s.

Hey, I started a blog entry on Bette Midler in the 1970s - apropos of
nothing - but it got too big for this page so you can access it here if
you're interested.

CBS
pulled Regis Philbin's Password for bad demographics but word
is ABC wants to revive Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with Regis
back as master of ceremonies. Look for it when the season end this summer
or earlier, although I think Meredith Vieira is the better host.

I'm
inclined to believe it if Amazon is taking orders. Look at the savings
- 69% off - this DVD set retails for $34.99 but is available for pre-order
at $10.99 - and Amazon will honor that price even if it goes up. Might
pay to order now!